


Pawn of Destiny

by lrschatzl



Category: Original Work
Genre: Fantasy, Magic, Magic School, Witch - Freeform, Witchcraft, Witches, Wizard, Wizards, young adult
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-23
Packaged: 2020-08-19 12:36:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20209849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lrschatzl/pseuds/lrschatzl
Summary: Whilst her country is falling apart, Lane is struggling with evil forces at her new school, which turn out to be more disastrous than the young witch had anticipated. And on top of this, Lane is definitely not the adventurous type.You can also find my work on Wattpad under "lrschatzl"!





	1. Bluebell

The light that shone through the office's tall windows fell on Lane's dark skin and was caught in her eyes, making her flinch. She'd always hated the sun; it was too bright and made her purple hair look pinker than she liked. What was so wrong about darkness anyway?

The cool voice of the headmistress tore Lane from her thoughts.  
"You will find that Bluebell college does not only provide its students with an excellent education, but also offers a comfortable accommodation. Many of our students consider it their second home." 

The elderly woman gave Lane's mother a faux smile, revealing a small diamond that was attached to one of her teeth. Lane thought it looked as fake as her attitude.

Her mother, however, was charmed. "This school is perfect for my daughter. Thank you for this opportunity, Professor Durham." 

Lane wasn't entirely convinced of that, but this was her only opportunity to get a good education and she did not want to get into trouble with her mother, so she kept quiet and smiled at the headmistress. 

"Well, now that everything is clear, I shall accompany you outside, Mrs. Sheffort, and we may let Lane depart for her first lesson," said Professor Durham and looked at Lane in a patronising manner, which, while was entirely justified, was yet unwanted. 

Mrs. Sheffort's lean face fell and Lane's heart sank in her chest.  
"Oh, so we already have to say goodbye..." 

The young girl looked at her mother, but instead of the usual long hair and comforting expression, she only saw a blurry figure in front of her. Lane touched her cheek hesitantly and felt wetness. Oh no, she had promised herself not to cry; she didn't want to make it even harder for them.

Her mother noticed this and smiled in that sad, reassuring way only a mother could smile. "You'll be fine, sweetheart. The holidays are not far off."

The young Sheffort tried her hardest to return a smile, but thought that it probably looked more like a grimace.

"Promise to call me every day, yeah? I didn't teach you the portal spell for nothing, love." 

The two laughed as they warmly embraced each other and Lane held onto her mother like she had done when she had been only a child. She was, of course, still a child in her mum's eyes, but she thought herself to be mature.  
Mrs. Sheffort let go off her daughter and gave her a warm smile as if to say, "hey, you can do this,", which made Lane even sadder. What would she do without her mother at her side? 

"I think we need to be going now. We wouldn't want you to be late to your first lesson, would we?" Professor Durham had apparently a talent for ruining a heartfelt moment, but she was right nevertheless.

Mrs. Sheffort coughed awkwardly. "Right, yes." She turned to Lane with a strict look. "Be good, honey."

"When am I not?"

Lane's mother just rolled her eyes and laughed, then they parted ways. The next holidays would be three months away, three long months.

***

Due to a rather rushed description, Lane got lost on her way to the classroom and was now very late. Being late was one of the many, many things that made Lane panic. A lot.  
After a good amount of nervous pacing in front of the door, the young girl finally managed to enter the classroom.

"And as you can see, the Leprechaun's bloo-"

Fuck. Lane felt a hot blush run over her face. She had interrupted her new teacher in the middle of her sentence, obviously causing everyone to stare at her.  
After a moment of awkward silence, the teacher, who was an eldery woman with raven black hair and pointy glasses, asked, "And who may you be?"

Lane swallowed heavily and replied quietly, "I'm the new student..."

"What was that?" The teacher was getting more irritated by her quiet voice. What a great first impression.

The young witch cleared her throat. "I'm Lane Sheffort. I'm the new student." 

"Very well. You can find an excuse for your tardiness on your way to your seat," she said sharply and pointed at the only empty seat in the classroom, which was, unfortunately, in the first row. 

The purple haired girl quickly sat down, avoiding eye contact and trying to hide her blush behind her curly hair. Surely, she could just say that she got lost on her way, and the teacher would understand. But then again, the way she looked at Lane from behind her pointy glasses was anything but understanding.

The teacher's stern voice ended her thoughts in an instant. "So? Why are you 18 minutes late, Ms. Sheffort?"

"I... uh... I got lost. In the building. I got lost in the building."

She narrowed her dark eyes at Lane, as if she was contemplating her punishments. Lane shifted uncomfortably in her chair, feeling like the dark haired woman could just see the panic in Lane's eyes and thinking that she might have been enjoying just that. Teachers were strange sometimes.

"Don't be late next time, Ms Sheffort and learn how to form coherent sentences." 

The tension in her body was washed away by relief. "Yes, professor." 

However, Lane was still embarrassed and would probably remain so until the end of the lesson.  
She hastily unpacked her bag. Trying to forget about her awkward situation, she looked around the classroom for the first time as the professor continued to give her lecture. The dark, wooden furniture was illuminated by a row of windows to Lane's left and the walls were decorated with several posters showing the anatomy of different creatures. That made sense, seeing as this class was called "NAC,", which was short for "Nature and its Creatures."". The students were seated in rows of four with five rows on each side of the classroom, so there was a seat for all 40 students in the class.

Most of Lane's new classmates had the same expression on their face - boredom, pure boredom. There were some exceptions of course, the girl to her right, for example, was either paying attention or was lost in her thoughts. Lane wasn't sure. The strange girl had shoulder long, blue hair and brown eyes. Her hair was very straight, giving a neat impression. Lane liked the girl's thoughtful look. There was also a boy sitting next to the young Sheffort, who was fast asleep. She couldn't really see anything apart from his also blue curls, which were incredibly messy. Maybe the two of them were siblings? 

"Now please open your books on page 7 and make your own notes to the first paragraph."  
She quickly got out her parchment and fountain pen and opened the book on said page. A small smile appeared on Lane's lips; it was a page about Clurichauns. Her brother had used to tell her stories about them when they were still young. He'd always described them as the Leprechaun's drunk cousin, which Lane thought was hilarious. The paragraph read as follows,

"The Clurichaun is related to the famous Irish Leprechaun.  
Clurichauns protect your wine cellar if you treat them well - but if you do not, they mess up your house and spoil your wine.  
If you incur the wrath of a Clurichaun by stealing wine or being a drunkard, he will torment you endlessly, hiding in a cask to fol-."

Lane's reading was interrupted by a light tap on her elbow, causing her to look to her right. To Lane's surprise, the dreamy girl gave Lane a quick smile and looked down to where she had tapped Lane, expecting the young Sheffort to follow her gaze. There was a small note, it looked like it had been torn from a sheet of parchment. Lane grabbed and opened it carefully.

"Don't worry about Professor Belatore. She doesn't hate you; she's just strict. I'm Isabelle, by the way."

Lane smiled, hopeful to have found a new friend. She took her fountain pen and wrote something underneath the girl's message. She wrote as neatly as she could, because Lane's handwriting was generally rather illegible.

"Thank you. I'm Lane, nice to meet you."

She checked whether Professor Belatore was looking, passed it to Isabelle when she was sure that she wasn't, and tapped her on the shoulder. Lane hope that she had made an at least okay first impression. Isabelle read the note and smiled at Lane before sneakily putting it in her bag. Lane spent the rest of the lesson a lot less embarrassed than she thought she'd be and let her thoughts wander for some time.

Lane wondered where her room was going to be. You see, Bluebell was a boarding school, so they'd all get different rooms assigned, which they thankfully didn't have to share with anyone. It was a rather posh school from what Lane'd heard and honestly? It looked like it. The first thing she saw of the school was the enormous cast-iron gate, which had the school's motto ("Specto. Sentio. Intellego." - "I observe. I feel. I understand.") worked inside of it. After that, there was a pretty front yard, which looked like they had just cut a piece out from one of the royal gardens and put it here instead. It was too perfect for Lane's liking, she preferred wild forests with flowers that grew wherever they wished to. 

Besides, she didn't particularly like the royal family, which consisted of Queen Anathema, King Arlis, and Prince Aurelius. There were rumours that Prince Aurelius went to Bluebell under a false name, but Lane didn't believe them. Princes always got homeschooled. 

In a speech, Queen Anathema once said that their family only chose first names that began with A, because it was the first letter in the alphabet, so apparently the most important one (their logic was questionable, the whole country thought so). Lane's point was; they were arrogant and not the best leaders. Many citizens didn't want to admit it, but her country, Amaryend, was going through a tough time. The royal family had declared Amaryend's independence from the NARA, which had been a union of the countries Newis, Amoris, Reyland, and Amaryend. It was to be called NAR now. The point was to achieve a better economy, but it wasn't working out at all. People lost jobs linked to the three other countries, which had caused the poverty rate to go up. The people of Amaryend, were understandably, furious. 

There were even rumours about a rebellion against the royal family, which was another factor that made Lane doubt the truth about the rumours concerning the Prince's education. This was a very dangerous time for the royals to walk among their people. 

Anyway, after she had admired the front yard, Lane's gaze had wandered to the school's building itself. It was, obviously, an old castle. She had read a bit about its history beforehand, but there hadn't been anything overly interesting. Just the usual castle stuff; it had belonged to lords and ladies until it had got turned into a school by the royals.  
It was a beautiful castle, though, and it had a mysterious feeling about it, like you'd expect gruesome secrets to be hiding in its shadows. The inside was decorated with wood, chandeliers, and red carpets, so it still looked like a castle where lords and ladies lived, rather than a school. It was all very elegant, but it made Lane feel like her freedom was being taken away for some reason. The clearly desired perfection was too demanding for her and she felt like this school didn't value individuality, which Lane very much did. 

However, this had only been her first impression and the only facts that she actually knew were that this was supposedly a very good place to get a higher education, which is the main reason Lane's mother sent her to this school. The other one was that she wanted to make sure Lane would get three meals a day, which was something she couldn't provide her with anymore.  
Things have been a bit tough for the family Sheffort ever since Lane's father died two years ago, but they got even worse when her mother lost her job due to Amaryend's new independence. Her brother, Frey, had to move out earlier than planned to start working and well, she luckily got a scholarship that enabled her to go to this school. Otherwise Lane would've had to do the same thing as her brother.  
She was very glad that her mum didn't have to worry as much anymore, but she already knew that she was going to miss her mum and her brother a lot. 

A shuffling noise came from the back of the classroom, breaking off Lane's train of thought. It sounded like someone rummaging through a pile of papers. The young witch turned around to check what it was, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Just other students, desks, some stuffed animals, posters. She eyed the area warily and turned around again before anyone would notice her odd staring. Weird. She then let her gaze wander over the people next to her, no one else seemed to have heard anything. Lane decided that she was probably just imagining things due to stress and returned her focus to the lesson, which then dragged itself along for 40 more minutes.

"Write a two page essay explaining the relation between leprechauns and clurichauns until tomorrow. Dismissed."

The blue haired boy next to Lane, who had finally woken up, groaned in annoyance. "That's far too much!"

"Would you like me to make it three pages, Mr. Best?" Professor Belatore raised her eyebrows, awaiting a reply. Uh Oh.

The boy looked away, his face turning red, and grumbled, "No, professor..." 

"I suggest you keep your remarks to yourself then," she said and turned her attention elsewhere. Yikes.

As the students were packing their bags, Lane checked her timetable and saw that her next lesson would be Illustration. She felt a nervous tug in her stomach. How would she know where to go? 

Lane cleared her throat because she thought it best to ask Isabelle who'd just finished putting her things away.

"Hey, uhm, do you know where the Illustration classroom is? I don't wanna be late again." Lane laughed awkwardly.

Thankfully, Isabelle either didn't notice or decided not to care about her slightly strange attitude. "I have Illustration next, we can go together if you like?" 

"Yeah that'd be nice."

"Okay, just a second, I have to wait for my brother, because he's taking ages again." Isabelle told Lane and emphasized the last part as she looked past her. Lane turned around and noticed that the boy from earlier, Best, was rolling his eyes at them.

"We only have to walk to the cellar, calm down," mumbled Best.  
Now that he was standing, it became noticeable how tall he was. His height was intimidating, but the softness in his features was welcoming. Lane noticed that the siblings looked very alike with the exception that Isabelle was a lot shorter, and had neater hair. 

Best's gaze found Lane and he gave her a goofy smile. "Who are you?"

Isabelle snorted. "Did you not pay attention when she introduced herself in front of the class?" 

Lane thought it best to intervene now, giving Best a friendly smile. "I think he was asleep, which is fair enough. I'm Lane Sheffort."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Tom Best." He turned towards his sister. "See, that's how you're nice to someone, Isabelle."  
Isabelle rolled her eyes.

On their way to Illustration, which was full of small passageways and dark staircases, the Best siblings told Lane all about their lives.  
Apparently, they were twins and had two other siblings both of which went to Bluebell, but in lower years. Tom told Lane about his great pranks in the past though Isabelle was quick to point out all of the punishments that had followed. Lane got the impression that they were quite different, but loved each other dearly.

As they finally entered the Illustration classroom, Lane's lungs itched uncomfortably and she promptly fell into a coughing fit.

Tom let out a barking laugh. "Yep, that'd be the dust. You'll get used to it; all cellar classrooms are like this." 

Isabelle pushed up the glasses on the bridge of her nose and conjured a glass of water for Lane. 

"Thanks," she said still struggling to breathe and then eyed Isabelle confusedly, "...were you wearing glasses the entire time?"

Before Isabelle could reply, the teacher commenced the lesson and the trio quickly moved behind easels. 

"We will begin this school year with the revision of animation. Please draw any animal on the canvas in front of you and make it dance around your easel until the end of the lesson." The teacher smiled weirdly, her gaze lingering on Lane longer than she liked. "Instructions are on the board." 

Lane thought that this teacher was a peculiar woman. She had frizzy, red hair that stood up in all directions, making her look like she'd just been electrocuted, and her clothes looked like rags rather than something a teacher of a posh school would wear. 

Still wondering about the odd look she'd been given, Lane picked up one of the paint brushes that were neatly laid out in front of her and began sketching. She instantly knew which animal she'd draw. 

Tom groaned next to her. "I bloody hate illustration. It's so useless, I don't understand why we have to take exams in it."

"I think it's fun, but it's unfair that people who don't like it have to take it. It's so talent-based," pointed out Lane and put a strand of hair behind her ear. 

Tom, being spurred on by Lane's remark, continued his rant, "Yeah! And Ms. Murane is turning it into a whole religion. It's ridiculous." 

Lane presumed that Ms. Murane was the name of their Illustration teacher.

"You're just mad because you're bad at drawing," teased Isabelle, making Tom dab a good bit of paint off his brush onto her cheek. Tom snickered.

"Oi, are you mad?!" Isabelle shot at Tom, hitting him on the forehead.

Tom's laughter was replaced by a mischievous grin. "Oh it's on, little sister." 

"Nothing is on, Mr. Best," ordered a stern voice behind us. 

Lane spun around to find Ms. Murane, looking anything but pleased. "Since it's the first lesson, I'll let you off the hook, but if I see but one more speck of paint where it doesn't belong, the two of you can ready yourselves for detention. Is that clear?"

The Best twins mumbled their agreements and just before Ms, Murane moved on, she locked her gaze with Lane's and a glimmer of recognition passed over her eyes.

"Bloody toad," muttered Tom.

Isabelle quickly shushed him. "Be quiet, you don't want to get into more trouble. Mum would be furious." 

Tom ignored his sister and turned his gaze to Lane. "Why'd she look at you like that?"

"Not a clue, she looked at me weirdly earlier as well."

Isabelle leaned over so that she could join into the conversation more easily. "Do you think she knows you from somewhere?"

The purple haired girl shrugged and thus ended the conversation. She just wanted to have a normal school year.  
The rest of the lesson continued without any disturbances, making it quite relaxing for Lane. She drew a little green dragon and let it fly swiftly around the easel before it landed gracefully back in the painting; dragons were her favourite animals. Isabelle managed to let a bluebird do the same, but it had a rather rough landing so the painting mainly showed a bird's bum. Tom's snake, however, looked more like a worm and barely slithered out of the canvas. Illustration really was not his strong point.

***

Lane's bedroom was just what she had expected. It had a huge window front, like seemingly every room in this building, and a beautiful king sized bed right in the middle. Her belongings had already been put in the closet and there was some parchment with a pen laid out on the desk. Bluebell thought of everything. 

A rush of excitement jolted through her veins and she threw herself on the bed, grinning like she had just won the best price ever. This room was so much bigger and more beautiful than any room she had ever had. Lane sighed happily and grabbed the silk sheets; they were incredibly soft. Today had been eventful, but she was very glad that she had made friends and that she could now end the day in a room like this.  
Luckily, Isabelle's room was close to hers, so she could easily show Lane the way to her room. Tom, however, was in the boy's dormitory which was in an entirely different wing. Lane chuckled to herself. As if that would stop boys and girls from visiting each other's rooms.

The young witch was just closing her eyes to take in the beauty of it all, when she was promptly startled by a cluttering noise coming from the other end of the room. Her limbs froze and her heartbeat sped up, but she still managed to shakily point her wand at the wardrobe. There was a loud thud. Lane swallowed heavily, slowly got off her bed, and sneaked towards it. 

Thud. Thud. Thud. 

Someone or something was trying to break the wardrobe's door! Lane searched her mind for every defensive spells she knew, but the words kept slipping away. 

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Lane started backing away from the wardrobe again. Why hadn't she left the room already?

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Crack.

The wood broke with a loud crack and Lane buried her face in her elbow to shield herself from the splinters. Lane was trembling and squeezed her eyes shut, but put her wand up again anyway. 

"D-don't come any c-closer! I w-will attack y-you." Lane didn't know whom she tried to fool, but she surely did not manage for the reply she got was a low growl that made the hairs on her neck stand up.

Lane was so scared that her eyes sprung open, but the sight before her was anything but frightening.


	2. Our Friend Brian

The little creature regarded Lane with a curious look in its big eyes, which seemed out of proportion compared to its small, scaly head.   
Lane gasped. "H-how can that be? I drew you! You're not real. You can't possibly be real!"

The dragon, however, just flapped its wings and let out a little huff of sparks. It seemed to be attempting to breathe fire, but failing miserably.   
Her chest swelling up with panic, Lane quickly backed up and put her hands up in a stopping motion.

"S-stay back!!" She shouted hoarsely. The back of her knees made contact with her bed and she almost fell onto it.

The dragon promptly sat down, which surprised Lane more than anything. Was it listening to her?

The itching in her legs telling her to run away almost overcame Lane had it not been for the spark of curiosity inside her mind. You know what they say, ‘curiosity killed the cat'. Well, what did it ever do to the dragon?  
Playing it safe, even though it was barely bigger than her head, Lane did not dare to move and kept her gaze glued on the little creature. Its big, yellow eyes regarded her curiously. She knew a lot about dragons, but she had never heard of one acting like this.

Lane swallowed hard. This was the first time she got a proper look at the thing before her. She knew that it was still a baby for it had not grown into its wings or eyes yet and its scales were too shiny. The piercing spikes emerging from its spine made Lane feel dizzy with fear. This was the spitting image of the dragon she had drawn in her Illustration lesson.   
Could it just be a coincidence? No, Lane ruled that thought out. There was no way this just happened to be an exact replica of the creature from her imagination, not with the scales being the exact same shade of forest green and the eyes having the same rounded shape as she had drawn. 

Lane winced as the dragon huffed and slumped onto the carpet. It almost looked like a puppy.   
She bit her lip nervously, her gaze scanning it. It seemed friendly, but how much could she trust her intuition when she had never actually encountered a dragon before? With no experience, she could get herself injured, or even worse, killed.

Slowly but steadily, she started creeping towards the dragon, one hand stretched out and the other grasping her wand.   
The little dragon lifted its head and... wagged its tail? Lane shook her head and cautiously sat down in front of it.

She cleared her throat. "So... uhm... dragon..." The corners of its muzzle turned upwards at that, revealing a set of sharp teeth with two fangs at the front. "Are you... good?" 

Lane felt stupid talking to it like that, but the dragon just jumped up and down excitedly as if to say 'yes I am, I'm a nice dragon!'.

Her eyes widened. She moved her body away from the creature. What the fuck. There was a living, breathing dragon in her room that looked like the one she had just painted and it was acting like a house trained dog. 

Despite the floor seeming to sway under her feet and her blurred vision, Lane got up and rushed out of the room. She slammed the door shut behind her and let herself slide down against it. This was just too much for her first day. The young witch shut her eyes and let a deep sigh escape her lungs. She needed to calm down and recalibrate before trying to achieve anything else. 

A soft familiar voice pulled her back to reality. "Lane, are you okay?" 

She opened her eyes, her blue irises clashing with Isabelle’s purple ones, Lane could see the confusion in Isabelle’s eyes.  
"There is a dragon in my room," she stated, her voice sounding hollow.

Isabelle's eyebrows furrowed. "What?"

Lane ignored her words and continued, "It's acting like a dog."   
She paused to look her friend in the eyes again. "It looks like the one I drew in our Illustration lesson." 

Her words seemed to worry Isabelle even more, because she knelt down and put a hand on Lane's forehead. 

"I don't have a fever," Lane scoffed and gently slapped her hand away. She was not sick, she knew what she had seen.

The blue haired girl pushed her glasses up and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Well if you don't have a fever, then you better give me another reason for why you're acting so weirdly."

A sharp pang of guilt struck in Lane's chest forced her to snap out of her daze.   
"I'm sorry." She got up and turned towards the door. "Just look." 

Slowly, she opened the door once again with Isabelle following behind closely.  
The dragon was in the very same spot Lane had left it with the exception that it was now facing the door. Isabelle gasped beside her. 

"T-there's a dragon in your room!" She exclaimed.

Despite already knowing about it, Lane's voice was laced with disbelief. "Yeah, I know."

In the following hour, the two witches slowly became familiar with the dragon's friendly attitude. They even played fetch with it and found out that it had a knack for stealing socks. It truly acted like a dog stuck in a beast's body. 

Isabelle stroked the dragon's head as it was lying in her lap. "We should name it."

"I like the name Brian," Lane said, causing Isabelle to laugh incredulously.

"You have a miracle dragon as your pet and you want to name it Brian?"

Lane smiled shyly and shrugged. "It's a good name." 

"Alright, Brian it is." Isabelle giggled.

Brian rolled himself on his back and smiled at the two witches. Lane's heart melted at the sight.

"What the actual fuck?" A familiar, deep voice bellowed behind them.

Isabelle and Lane spun around in shock. "Tom!" they exclaimed in unison.

Tom's blue hair standing up in various directions and his eyes almost popping out of his skull gave him the appearance of a cartoon character. His parted lips and sudden stillness did not help that either.

"I can explain," said Lane slowly as she was getting up.

Isabelle's eyebrows furrowed and she shot her friend a critical glance. "Can you, though?" 

Lane silently agreed with Isabelle and thought that explain was the wrong word. However, she could tell Tom about what had happened and he might be able to help. Thus she did exactly that. Hopefully, he would believe the crazy event of that day, and she wouldn’t sound like she was having hallucinations. 

Pacing around the room, Tom shook his head in a desperate attempt to comprehend the situation. Meanwhile, the girls were looking at him expectantly and with a hint of nervousness. Neither Lane nor Isabelle was sure how he was going to react, but things were not looking good. The suffocating silence hanging in the air was only interrupted by Brian's soft snores. All this uproar had been too much for the baby dragon, so he just had to take a nap in Lane's arms.

As Lane looked down to the peaceful creature, she too tried to comprehend what had just happened. She wouldn't be surprised if Tom deemed her out of her mind. Lane would think the same thing if someone had told her that they had just found a dragon in their room.

Finally, Tom's steps came to a halt and he looked at the duo in front of him. "Well, do you have any idea how it could have happened?" 

Isabelle pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. A grave shadow passed over her soft features. "I think that only very powerful - possibly evil - magic could do something like this. Animating a painting for a few minutes is one thing, but actually making it come alive and keep it that way for over two hours is an entirely different matter."

Tom sat down next to Isabelle, clearly keeping his distance from Lane and Brian. His voice was drenched in a seriousness that seemed so contrary to his personality as he said, "Lane, how powerful of a witch are you exactly?" 

"Tom!" Isabelle scolded him, but Lane saw a flicker of doubt in her eyes.

The boy snapped. "What? It was her drawing after all and we just met her today. We don't even know what her skill is! No offense, Lane, you seem nice, but the evidence is against you." 

At first Lane was sure to reply that she could never do magic as powerful as this, but hesitated. Tom had a point. It had been her painting, her magic that made the little dragon fly around the canvas. If she was capable of this, then what else was she able to achieve?

As Tom mentioned her skill, though, her ears and chest burned with embarrassment. Every wizard or witch had their own specific talent, their skill, that defined them in a way. The most common skills were invisibility, teleportation, and the sight. They were often passed on genetically, but not always. You could learn all of those with hard work, but you would never be as good as someone who was born with it as their skill. However, rarer skills, like mind reading, could not be taught at all and are limited to those who were born with it. 

Lane was born with no skill, which was so uncommon that she had never met anyone who had had the same misfortune. As a child, she had often searched history books for wizards like her, but it was clear to her that the situation she was in was too rare.   
She had never told anyone apart from her family and the many alchemists she had visited. None of them could find a cure, so Lane put all of her time into learning teleportation and was now fairly good at it. To most people, it just seemed like she had simply not practiced her own skill enough, but this would not last forever for wizards got better with age and it would soon catch up with her.

Lane's gaze flickered from the sleeping creature in her arms to Tom.  
"As far as I know, I am not powerful enough to do something like this and I promise you that I have never and would never meddle with dark magic." 

The Best siblings both exhaled in relief, but Tom still didn't dare to move closer to Lane and maintained his wary composure. Pain pinched at her heart, but she masked it with a smile. She couldn't expect to gain his trust in a day. She only hoped that at some point, he would trust her. 

Isabelle frowned. "I guess we should talk to a teacher about this."

"Yeah, but which one?" Lane wondered and regarded the twins expectantly. They knew the teachers better than Lane after all, and if they ended up consulting the wrong one, then they could get into an awful lot of trouble for something that was none of their faults, especially the twins. 

The Best sister shot her brother a sly smile. "There is only one teacher who knows a lot about animation and seems to have taken an interest in Lane..."

Tom groaned and covered his face with his hands. "Oh god, please no. I hate that old hag." Isabelle was quick to scold her brother for being so rude, by swatting him on the arm with the back of her hand. 

The trio decided to meet Ms Murane after breakfast tomorrow, because they all felt too tired to deal with it right away. And because she wanted to spend more time with Brian, Lane was especially pleased about this. 

After the twins had returned to their rooms, Lane let herself rest on her new bed with Brian curled up on her chest. Her hand stroked over his smooth scales as he sighed contentedly, but Lane's mind was elsewhere. The events of this day plagued her mind. She had just wanted a normal day, a normal life - no more craziness. Lane's life had been filled with enough of that after her father's death.   
Squeezing her eyes shut as her mind became heavy, the young witch tried to block out all memories of the numerous agents showing up at their house with their memory cubes and dreadful, grey cloaks. She failed miserably. Lane remembered everything; from the typical blue rune on the agents' foreheads to the feeling of yellow smoke emanating from the cube and sucking the memories of her father's murder out of her mind. She had thought that her head was going to explode right there and had worried that her mother would have to wipe her brains from the walls.   
The agents were forced to do that, it was protocol. That was what they had kept trying to assure her mother anyway. 

The young witch bit her lip and barely held the tears at bay. She refused to cry again, it was pointless. Lane told herself to sleep. Nothing could happen to her in her dreams.

***

Her first breakfast at Bluebell was grimmer than Lane had anticipated. Though the round, wooden tables and the chandeliers hanging above them made the hall appear like a ballroom, dreadful news still travelled through the crowd of students.   
Amongst the many duties, the students of Bluebell had, keeping up with the news was usually the most boring one. This morning's 'the Saviour', however, had left everyone in a gloomy mood. Twenty-three agents had been killed and over thirty injured during an attack on the palace by activists of the rebellion.

Lane was sitting at a table with the twins and Blake, a raven haired boy who was in her Astrology class. He hadn't said anything all morning and she only knew his name because Tom had introduced them. He was wearing a black hoodie and ate his breakfast in a grumpy manner. She didn't know whether this was simply his personality or caused by the incident that left everyone in a worse mood.

Lane herself shuddered after she had read the news, but was not surprised. Attacks like these were no unusual thing in the current political situation. Everything was a mess and the rebels, thought right in their dislike, were just violent monsters. No reason was good enough to kill so many people.  
But this wasn't the only thing worrying her that morning. Though she had told Brian to stay under her bed until she would return, Lane didn't know just how obedient he was. He was still a young dragon after all. There wasn't even a book she could read on him, because he did not act like other dragons.   
Lane tried to push away her anxieties and focused on her table's conversation.

Isabelle was the first to comment, "I just don't understand why they can't find a peaceful solution." 

Tom shrugged, not caring much for politics. "That's just how it's always been. The rebellion against the royals." 

"It's getting out of hand, though. Someone needs to get the rebellion under control," Lane interjected, her jaw tense.

Blake, his voice unsurprisingly rough, snapped at Lane. "it's not just the rebellion. The royals are just as violent, but the media won't talk about it because they're either too scared or brainwashed." 

With that, the raven haired boy stood up and stormed out of the hall. Lane felt guilt gnawing at her heart as she watched him; she hadn't intended to upset him. 

Isabelle's sensible tone tore her attention away. "His parents are part of the rebellion, so he's a bit sensitive about the entire topic." 

Lane cringed and groaned internally. It was just her luck to offend one of the twins' friends right away.

"I'll go up to him and apologise," decided Lane and promptly got up.

Tom grabbed her elbow and whispered sharply, "not now." His gaze pointed at Ms Murane who was leaving the teachers' table and he added in a low voice, "we need to take care of the other thing first."

As the trio hurried after the strange teacher, Lane wondered what exactly they were going to say to her. This entire ordeal certainly wasn't an easy thing to explain. 

"Why can't we just meet Ms Murane in her office?" Isabelle inquired.

Tom shrugged. "She's probably on the way there anyway and I want to get it over with."

As they reached a to her still unknown corridor, Lane impulsively halted and her jaw dropped. It was breathtaking. Millions of colourful lights were floating across the walls, their lights reflecting in Isabelle's glasses. A sense of peace and comfort swept through Lane's body and a smile crept on her face.

Tom groaned and grabbed her hand, dragging her along with him. "It's the hallway of harmony. You'll get used to it."

The smile not leaving her face, Lane mumbled, "what are the lights?"

Isabelle giggled. "They're fairies. Every headmaster who has ever taught here has tried to remove them, but to no avail. They've supposedly been placed here by the first residents of Bluebell." She paused, mustering Lane with an amused expression. "They have more of an effect on some people than others." 

Lane couldn't tear her gaze away from the beautiful creatures, no matter how hard she tried. The way they glowed so peacefully was enchanting.

Tom had to smirk at Lane's daze, but kept a cool head and his goal in mind. They had almost crossed the corridor anyway. Ms Murane was not far in front of them, they'd catch up soon.

The hallway of harmony ended with a sharp turn to the right. Lane felt the euphoria numb away as soon as they left the corridor. She missed it.  
The trio found themselves standing in a dimly lit foyer with six doors spread across its circular walls. Like everything in the castle, the floor was decorated with a red carpet and the walls with small chandeliers. Lane wondered why they kept using these chandeliers everywhere. They were not particularly bright.  
A sharp wind hushed over Lane's neck, making the hairs on the back of it stand up. She looked behind her to see what it was, but her gaze only travelled across the empty foyer. Filled with unease, Lane turned towards the twins again. They didn't seem to have noticed.

Lane cleared her throat. "So which office is hers?" 

Before anyone could answer her question, one of the doors were flung open. Lane gasped and stumbled backwards.   
A shadowy figure with devil's horns stood in the doorframe, towering high above them. Lane had never felt so small. A sizzling noise coming from the room accompanied by sparks flying made her take even more steps back until her back was touching the cold wall. Lane's heart hung heavy in her chest. She tried to swallow, but her mouth was too dry.  
Tom and Isabelle had immediately taken their wands out and were pointing them at the monster.

Lane was about to follow the twins' lead, but halted as the foyer was filled with an evil cackle coming from the monster. "No need to point your wands at me, children."

The figure stepped into the foyer's light, revealing itself to be no monster at all, but Ms Murane wearing an odd hat. The tension in Lane's body was washed away by relief and she moved forwards again.  
Tom's shoulders dropped as he gave Ms Murane a look of utter annoyance and quickly tried to recover his posture. Isabelle just snickered at her brother.

"Lane?" She asked incredulously, putting her hat aside. "Well, whatever is it that you want?" 

Lane was the first to speak up, her voice still a bit shaken, "I read about a curious case of Illustration and we would like to know your opinion. Could we come in?" 

A wicked grin spread on Ms Murane's lips. "Well, of course, I'm always happy to help talented witches like you and Isabelle." 

Lane didn't have to turn around to know that Tom was rolling his eyes.  
The three students followed Ms Murane into her office, which was stuffed with not only paintings, but also various statues, vases, and every art supply you could get. They struggled to manoeuvre through the mess, but somehow managed to go all the way to the desk without knocking anything over. Well, Tom almost hit a statue of the queen, but caught it before the teacher noticed.   
Having sat down, they explained the 'hypothetical' case to Ms Murane.

The trio looked at her expectantly after they had finished, but the teacher said nothing at first. Her gaze was soft and unfocused.

"What do you make of it?" Isabelle asked impatiently.

Ms Murane's mind seemed to return to the present.   
"Well, I think that this is a very interesting case. It sounds rather unrealistic, though." She turned to Lane. "Where did you say you read it?" 

Lane was quick to come up with a lie, but unease spread in her stomach. "In some old book that I found in my mother's study."

Ms Murane nodded and leaned back in her chair. "It is most likely made up." 

Disappointment clouded Lane's heart. Of course, she would think that.

"But what if it wasn't?" Tom piped up. "Isn't it worth more looking into?"

The teacher smiled at him in a patronising manner. Lane could tell that the sight made Tom's blood boil. "Maybe, but I have other matters to attend to." 

Before her brother could snap at her, Isabelle put a hand on his arm and interjected, "Do you know someone who could help us and doesn't have other matters to attend to?"

A spark flashed over the teacher's eyes. "I could set you up with two other students who both excel in Illustration. You could do this as a project for extra credit."

The three friends exchanged looks. Isabelle and Lane nodded, but Tom looked at them wide-eyed and shook his head.

The girls replied simultaneously, "Sounds good."

"Excellent! I will ask the students if they are interested," the teacher exclaimed, but raised an eyebrow as her gaze landed on Tom. "Will you be joining the project as well, Tom?"

Tom huffed and looked away. "I suppose…" 


End file.
